Saturday, September 21, 2013

Team revitalizing Pleasant Ridge intersection

We’re exploring how certain places have shaped our community personality, what we might learn from them and what some neighborhoods need to be healthy for next generations.

Let us know what places you have passion for, your concerns and hopes for those places. If you are getting things done in your community, we’d like to hear about that, too. Email Carolyn Washburn, editor and vice president.

Jason Chamlee, President of Pleasant Ridge Development Corp., and board member Justin Wilkey, talk inside an empty property at Ridge and Montgomery Roads, that went into foreclosure five-years ago, and has been vacant ever since. For two years, the all-volunteer Pleasant Ridge Development Corp. has worked to redevelop the property, and now armed with a $200,000 city grant, they envision a new centerpiece for the neighborhood. / The Enquirer/Amanda Rossmann

Passion
for place

The Enquirer is exploring how certain places have shaped our community personality, what we might learn from them and what some neighborhoods need to be healthy for the future. Let us know what places you have passion for, your concerns and hopes for those places. We’d also like to hear big ideas for your community. Email John Johnston at jjohnston@enquirer.com.

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PLEASANT RIDGE — Multimillion-dollar development deals make headlines, but more often, a city flourishes because of small-scale, volunteer-led efforts in its neighborhoods.

Jason Chamlee is helping lead such an effort at the intersection of Montgomery and Ridge roads in Pleasant Ridge. Specifically, the focus is on the intersection’s northwest corner, which has languished for years.

“I call it the trophy property of our business district,” said Chamlee, president of the all-volunteer Pleasant Ridge Development Corp.

Nearby is a mix of restaurants and shops, some that cater to the neighborhood, and others, like Everybody’s Records, A Salon Named Desire and the east African restaurant Emanu, which draw from a wider area.

But storefronts on that corner have been mostly vacant since the property’s former owner fell on hard times during the Great Recession. A high-end clothing boutique, collectible toy store, carpet store and caterer all closed their doors. Only a couple of businesses remain.

Now, though, momentum is building for a rebirth. It started in 2010 when residents relaunched the dormant PRDC. Pleasant Ridge also became the first city neighborhood with a community entertainment district, which allows restaurants to obtain liquor licenses cheaply and quickly.

With an eye on that vacant corner, PRDC then partnered with a private developer who was already heavily invested in the neighborhood. And last month, the organization secured a $200,000 city grant through Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United, which assists with revitalization and development projects.

All of which has fueled optimism for the empty corner, in particular the space at 6099 Montgomery, which in the 19th century housed the Pleasant Ridge Hotel.

“Ourgold standard is to have a destination restaurant on that corner,” Chamlee said.

There’s more than a little irony in the fact that he is leading the charge. Not so long ago, Chamlee was itching to leave Cincinnati.

He graduated from Miami University with a history degree in 2004, then spent a year living and working in Europe. After that experience, he had his eye on Washington, D.C., Boston or Chicago.

Then he started paying attention to what was happening here.

Fountain Square had just been renovated; Over-the-Rhine development was underway; the Banks was taking shape; the streetcar was being discussed.

“This could be a really great city,” he told himself, “and I want to be part of making it a really great city.”

Five years ago, he and his wife bought a home in Pleasant Ridge. They didn’t know much about the neighborhood, other than it offered great bang for the housing buck, with easy access to areas they enjoyed.

Soon, though, the couple discovered they were surrounded by great neighbors in a community of diverse ages, races and incomes. Or as Chamlee puts it: “We found a community we didn’t know to look for.”

He plugged into neighborhood issues through the Pleasant Ridge Community Council. For about two years, he was chair of its business committee.

He’d been working in the financial industry, but began networking with people involved in urban projects and developments that interested him. That led him to enroll in a master’s degree program in urban planning at the University of Cincinnati.

Halfway through the two-year program, he was invited to become a board member of the PRDC. When he finished grad school, outgoing PRDC president Justin Wilkey asked if Chamlee would take the reins. He said yes.

Chamlee then landed a job as development associate with the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority. That job, he said, dovetails nicely with his work with PRDC.

Like other community development organizations, the PRDC faces challenges.

“There are dwindling federal, state and local resources,” said Kathy Schwab, executive director of the local chapter of LISC, which invests in urban neighborhoods. “Communities have to work to take back their neighborhoods.”

The PRDC’s efforts recently paid off when it received the $200,000 city grant. Working in the PRDC’s favor, Chamlee said, was its partnership with developer Gene Levental of Cincinnati Premier Realty, who over 10 years has built a successful track record of rehabbing apartments in and near the neighborhood.

The grant money will be used to make facade, mechanical and structural improvements and do some interior work to the vacant property at Montgomery and Ridge, to make it more marketable. Additional investment will be needed from future tenants, perhaps a destination restaurant that Chamlee hopes will claim a prized spot in the business district. ■

I cover eastern Hamilton County communities, Clermont County and the Cincinnati Zoo, and write about local history. Email me at jjohnston@enquirer.com